1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the protection of electrical equipment, and more particularly to a programmable timed electrical power management device for protecting and controlling electrical equipment plugged into it.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Conventional surge protectors are used with computer equipment to prevent them from becoming damaged in the event of a power surge. Most often, they have a plurality of electrical receptacles into which a computer and various other peripheral devices, such as printers, monitors, modems, etc. are plugged. A control switch allows all the devices to be turned on or off at the same time.
In large business establishments having their computer systems plugged into surge protectors, the workers will usually turn on their computer systems at the start of their work day at about the same time, say 8:00 AM, which will often result in tripping the circuit breaker in the building.
There are several patents which disclose various surge protection devices for electronic equipment.
Fussell, U.S. Pat. No. 4,023,071 discloses a transient and surge protection apparatus for absorbing and dissipating the electrical energy present in voltage transients and surges. The device limits the peak voltage of a surge to a safe value and dissipates the surge energy to prevent damage to the power distribution system and associated equipment.
Zulaski, U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,687 discloses device for detecting unbalanced conditions in a polyphase equipment bank. The device detects capacitor unit failures in a multi-phase grounded wye-connected capacitor bank in a high voltage transmission system.
Stifter, U.S. Pat. No. 4,259,705 discloses a combination surge protector filter having a plurality of electrical sockets having a filter connected between each socket and the suppressor which provide electrical isolation between electronic equipment connected to the individual sockets and isolation from AC power line noise and transients.
Speet et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,386 discloses a power receptacle for use in a modular office panel power supply system which has a plurality outlets at least one of which can be selectively electrically isolated from the remaining outlets for filtering the isolated outlet. In one embodiment, the system includes a line conditioner having a cam which, when mechanically and electrically coupled to the receptacle, couples a surge protection circuit in parallel with each of the outlets of the receptacle and a line conditioning filter only in series with the isolated outlet for supplying power to a computer.
Austin, U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,083 discloses a voltage surge suppressor for connecting electronic equipment to AC power and coaxial antenna lines. The apparatus includes two surge suppression circuits within a single housing, one for the coaxial antenna line and the other for the AC power line.
The present invention is distinguished over the prior art in general, and these patents in particular by a programmable timed electrical power management device that protects and controls electrical equipment and peripherals which are plugged into it. The front of the housing containing the electrical circuitry is provided with a LCD display, a series of pressure sensitive switches for inputting function and control commands to control the operation of the device. A series of LED's mounted on the front of the housing indicate the operational status of the device. The back of the housing is provided with an AC power input receptacle, an on/off reset switch, a series of AC outlets which are divided into pairs of filtered banks, and two or more modular jacks for receiving the modular plug of a telephone, fax, and/or modem.
The device circuitry includes a CPU, timer/calendar, a sound generator, voltage sensors, and a back-up battery power supply. The outlets and modular plugs are protected from electrical surges. Each bank of outlets can be selectively programmed to turn on and off at a different time of the day and different days of the week. When more than one bank is set to start at the same time, power is sequentially supplied to each electrical outlet bank allowing the voltage to stabilize before turning on the next bank. A warning tone will sound fifteen, ten, and five minutes prior to shutting off any of the banks, to alert the user that the system is approaching the preset time for the power to the outlets to be turned off, to prevent accidental loss of information.